E-Bay or Amazon for Computer Components

[Lazy_Titan_69]

Good day Members

Hoping someone here can maybe contribute their knowledge or experiences.

I am currently in the market for a specific motherboard which can no longer be purchased locally and finding it used is proving extremely difficult.

My options currently lead me to either E-Bay where the price is reasonable and no shipping will be charged, but lead time is very long. The other option is Amazon where the lead time is less but prices include shipping charge and higher base price.

My question is, has anyone ordered from E-Bay or Amazon in regards to computer components? Is it worth it and will it arrive in one piece?

Thank you in advance.

 

[moedeez]

What board?

 

[goldfritter]

Good day Members

Hoping someone here can maybe contribute their knowledge or experiences.

I am currently in the market for a specific motherboard which can no longer be purchased locally and finding it used is proving extremely difficult.

My options currently lead me to either E-Bay where the price is reasonable and no shipping will be charged, but lead time is very long. The other option is Amazon where the lead time is less but prices include shipping charge and higher base price.

My question is, has anyone ordered from E-Bay or Amazon in regards to computer components? Is it worth it and will it arrive in one piece?

Thank you in advance.

I'm pretty sure if eBay isn't charging shipping, then A) you will have to pay customs when it arrives in the country, the value of which can be a thumbsuck, and B) it will be handed over to SA Post Office from customs, which means the odds of it getting lost forever are quite high.

With Amazon you pay customs upfront and they refund you the difference if they overestimated the amount, and it's shipped to you by tracked courier rather than the post office. It's a very smooth experience.

 

[Oj0]

I'm pretty sure if eBay isn't charging shipping, then A) you will have to pay customs when it arrives in the country, the value of which can be a thumbsuck, and B) it will be handed over to SA Post Office from customs, which means the odds of it getting lost forever are quite high.

With Amazon you pay customs upfront and they refund you the difference if they overestimated the amount, and it's shipped to you by tracked courier rather than the post office. It's a very smooth experience.

I used to purchase CPUs from eBay. Most EU sellers offered free shipping to Norway where I have a friend, so he'd consolidate and send as a single shipment. One box went missing - cool, I'm MIFFED (there was an insane Athlon64 3700+ in there, non-replaceable), but at least it was insured on the other side.

Claim gets processed after a while and he sends the funds via PayPal. Life goes on.

About 18 months later I get notification from the post office that there's a parcel waiting for me. Well guess what it was...

Anyway, other than the risk, VAT will be charged based on the declared value. Most sellers will declare the value as the retail price, so you could end up paying a large chunk when it arrives here. Customs seems to be a thumb-suck a lot of the time; sometimes it was nothing while other times it was more than 20%. It's damn near impossible to fight, so just go with it and fork out another large chunk if necessary.

Shipping can also be out of control. I see a lot that don't specify to SA. I've seen free shipping in certain areas and $ 30 in others, but when contacting the seller to find out about shipping to SA they come back with an amount of $ 150.

Overall, there's far less risk in every way possible from Amazon. What board is it, and what is the price from eBay and Amazon? If low enough from eBay, it might be worth a gamble. If customs, VAT, etc come to too much you could always just walk away from it.

 

[Lazy_Titan_69]

What board?

Amazon: Asrock z170 Extreme 4
E-Bay: Asrock b250 Pro4

 

[Lazy_Titan_69]

I used to purchase CPUs from eBay. Most EU sellers offered free shipping to Norway where I have a friend, so he'd consolidate and send as a single shipment. One box went missing - cool, I'm MIFFED (there was an insane Athlon64 3700+ in there, non-replaceable), but at least it was insured on the other side.

Claim gets processed after a while and he sends the funds via PayPal. Life goes on.

About 18 months later I get notification from the post office that there's a parcel waiting for me. Well guess what it was...

Anyway, other than the risk, VAT will be charged based on the declared value. Most sellers will declare the value as the retail price, so you could end up paying a large chunk when it arrives here. Customs seems to be a thumb-suck a lot of the time; sometimes it was nothing while other times it was more than 20%. It's damn near impossible to fight, so just go with it and fork out another large chunk if necessary.

Shipping can also be out of control. I see a lot that don't specify to SA. I've seen free shipping in certain areas and $ 30 in others, but when contacting the seller to find out about shipping to SA they come back with an amount of $ 150.

Overall, there's far less risk in every way possible from Amazon. What board is it, and what is the price from eBay and Amazon? If low enough from eBay, it might be worth a gamble. If customs, VAT, etc come to too much you could always just walk away from it.

Amazon: Asrock z170 Extreme 4
E-Bay: Asrock b250 Pro4

These are the boards i am looking at. The risk is the only concern on E-Bay but shipping with Amazon is estimated at around 40 usd.